


May Your Days Be Merry And Bright

by BaronetCoins



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: And tim will probably never shut up about it, Bad Puns, Bisexual Character, Gen, Gift Giving, The Mechanisms was Jon's college band au, holiday party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21763087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronetCoins/pseuds/BaronetCoins
Summary: Tim has decided to drag the newly assembled archives staff into a grand celebration of Christmas cheer. That is, of course, assuming Jonathan "Buzzkill" Sims decides to play along.
Relationships: Jon & The Archives Staff, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims, slight
Comments: 7
Kudos: 453
Collections: Rusty Quill Secret Santa 2019





	May Your Days Be Merry And Bright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [creatrixanimi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatrixanimi/gifts).



“Archives gift exchange” was, surprisingly, not Martin’s idea. Nor was it Sasha’s. No, to Jon’s surprise it was Tim who had decided the crew needed a bit of “holiday cheer” to help them “liven up a little.”

The man had been incessant. When Jon arrived to work on the first of December (at 7 am) the front half of the archives had been covered in tinsel. Tim was whistling, crowned with a Santa hat. He responded to Jon’s slightly raised eyebrow with a cheerful wave and turned back to his latest target, Sasha’s desk.

Jon scowled a bit, ducking into his back office and dropping off the briefcase. He’d never been quite comfortable about the whole idea of gratuitous displays of holiday. Rather, he preferred to keep to himself. A bit of time off and a nicer bit of takeout were all he normally needed to make christmas. Still, the others seemed to have their hearts set on the thing, and he needed to come up with something for Sasha.

* * *

Of course, as was traditional for Jon, he had waited until the last possible moment to purchase his gift. He’d found it in the bookstore he often passed as he went to work, a set of highlighters in the nice pastels he had noticed her favoring.

The store had even been kind enough to wrap it for him. He felt somewhat proud of himself for finding something he thought Sasha would like. Heaven knew he had misinterpreted someone’s social cues before. It was enough to put an almost visible spring in his step as he entered the institute and made his way down into the archives.

If he thought Tim had been extravagant before, it was nothing compared to what he’d done overnight. The archives were almost completely unrecognizable under several layers of holiday kitsch. He’d even been brave enough to fasten some tinsel over Jon’s office door. Santa’s helper himself was sitting at his desk, still humming some sort of carol to himself.

Jon ducked into his office, very carefully avoiding the mistletoe placed rather obviously in the doorway. Tim glanced up and chuckled.

“Not feeling it today boss?” The man grinned. Jon sighed and shut the door firmly, pulling out a statement from the neverending stack on his desk. Holiday season or not, he was determined to get something productive done.

The day passed awkwardly as follow up and statements joined the mounting piles on his desk and he did his continued best to avoid catching anyone in the doorway. Time flew by until before he knew it, Tim was pounding on his door.

“It’s quitting time!” The incessantly cheerful man called. Jon groaned a little as he rearranged his stacks and dug the gift out from one of his desk drawers. In the main room Tim had perched on his desk like some awkward bird with the others gathered around him.

“So?” Sasha asked from her reclined spot in a wheely chair. “Who’s going first?”

Jon meekly offered her the bag, leaning across the divide to make sure it landed in her hands. She flashed him a quick smile and carefully rooted around through the tissue paper. When she pulled out the highlighters she beamed a little.

“I’d been needing new ones! How did you know?” She started to reach out for a hug before visibly pulling back. Jon settled on a quiet nod.

“My turn then?” She turned towards Tim, handing him another tall gift bag. He accepted it, making a big show of yanking out the tissue paper to finally reveal a neatly folded t-shirt. With a final dramatic flourish he held up the shirt to his chest, revealing a rather awful pun.

“Best… Bi? Really Sasha?” Martin laughed. “I would hate for you to have peaked with last year.”

“I think this is the year she truly broke new ground.” Tim smiled a devilish smile. “Almost enough to make up for having to kiss the past year…”

“Don’t.” Jon’s head landed firmly in his hands.

“Good-Bi”. Tim finished solemnly. Sasha applauded. Martin let out a tiny giggle. Tim took a mock bow and slid his smaller wrapped package across the desk towards Martin.

“This one’s for you!” He grinned. Martin very carefully slit open the paper, pulling the inner contents free without disturbing the pattern. He pulled loose what Jon recognized as an album, though his hands were hiding the cover.

“I was talking to a friend and she recommended this band. Didn’t seem up my ally but I figured you might get a kick out of the new take on fairy tales and the like. Has a neat aesthetic too, something I know you appreciate.” Tim shrugged. “If it isn’t your jamn, I have the receipt.”

Martin’s hands moved on the cover, revealing it for the crew to see. When he noticed the cover art he spat his tea back out. Tim quickly noticed the gesture.

“Something up boss?” He waved towards the man. “You alright?”

“It’s uh…” Jon reached up to wipe the tea from his mouth. “Nothing. Nothing.” Sasha had already whipped out her phone and was quickly googling the name of the band.

“The Mechanisms?” She asked softly, clearly looking through a website. “Sounds interesting.” 

Jon wiped his hands on his pant legs. “Quite.”

“Oh!” She clicked on something else. “An about page!”

Jon choked once more. “Do we really need to finish this…”

“Hiding something?” Tim poked jovially. “What do you know that we don’t?”

He swallowed and remained silent. This time it was Sasha who lost her composure.

“Is that Jon?” She shoved the phone in the faces of the other two assistants. “Was Jon in a band?”

“Spill Boss.” Tim raised an eyebrow in his direction. “What is it you do on your weekends?”

“I had a band in college.” Jon leaned back, his arms crossed. “End of story.”

“Not just any college band apparently.” Sasha chuckled. “A steampunk storytelling group with a medium sized but dedicated following.”

“We all had hobbies.” He pushed himself out of his seat and stalked towards his office. “Are we quite finished? I had a few more things to get done before the holiday.”

Behind him Tim was urging Martin to show them all what Jon singing sounded like. With a slightly disappointed sigh, he slammed the door to his office shut.

* * *

When next he glanced up at the clock it was in response to another knock on his door. With a start, Jon realized that it was past 7. He started hurriedly throwing his things into his battered briefcase, praying the latches wouldn’t give out today.

“Come in!” He hollered as he shoved the last few pieces of paper into a folder. Martin stood awkwardly in the doorway, holding a wrapped bag.

“You uh..” He took an obvious breath. “You kinda stalked off before I could give you your present? Sorry about that, by the way. Anyway, I was just hoping to-”

“Spit it out.” Jon stood, briefcase clutched to his chest like a shield.

“Here’s your present.” Martin thrust the bag towards Jon, clearly watching anxiously to see his reaction. Jon gently placed his briefcase down on the floor, opening the package like it contained a dead rat. He pulled out what appeared to be a pair of fingerless gloves, made in a stitch that implied hand knitting.

“I feel like I always see you wearing the same pair of worn out gloves and then taking them off to reach your phone so I figured you might like some new ones.” Martin reached up to touch his hair.

“I… thank you Martin.” Jon choked out, touching the soft yarn.

“I didn’t mean to upset you earlier.” Martin stayed resolutely in the doorway. “If it means anything, you do sound really nice though.”

“Should we be going?” He floundered a little. As he slipped the gloves on and picked up the briefcase he stalked towards the door. Glancing up, he cursed a little.

“What?” Martin seemed to startle.

“Tim.” Jon spat. “Mistletoe.”

“Nobody’s watching. We can just leave.” Martin seemed ready to run from the situation. Surprising himself Jon leaned down, wrapping his arms around the shorter man in a brief hug.

“Figure we should at least observe some of the spirit of the tradition, right?” He stepped back a little embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“Ah.” Martin cleared his throat. “Merry christmas Jon.”

“Merry christmas Martin.”


End file.
